Is There a ‘Hurt Locker’ Backlash?

It’s a good thing it’s four days before the Oscars and not four weeks because the “The Hurt Locker” has lately been generating the wrong kind of publicity. For weeks now the war film about a military unit that diffuses bombs in Iraq has been the darling of pre-Oscar media. Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow has a good chance of becoming the first-ever female Oscar winner for Best Director; screenwriter Mark Boal is basically a lock for Best Original Screenplay; and though its total box office gross is probably equal to what “Avatar” has taken in at the AMC Theatre in Skokie, Illinois, “The Hurt Locker” has somehow emerged as the Best Picture front runner.

But is there a backlash afoot? Oscar voting closed yesterday so any further bad news won’t affect the movie’s outcome, but consider the evidence:

In February, one of the film’s producers sent an e-mail to Academy members soliciting votes for “The Hurt Locker” while making derogatory remarks about the competition, notably “Avatar.” The e-mail was in violation of Academy rules, the producer, Nicolas Chartier, was publicly upbraided, and there was talk of pulling “The Hurt Locker” from competition.

Yesterday, as a result of Chartier’s inappropriate e-mail, the Academy announced he would be banned from the Oscars ceremony. “The Hurt Locker,” however, will remain eligible for awards.

Also, yesterday, Master Sergeant Jeffrey S. Sarver sued the makers of “The Hurt Locker” because he says Boal based the main character (played by Jeremy Renner) on him. Sarver also says he’s the one who coined the phrase “the hurt locker.” Boal’s screenplay is based on his own story for Playboy; the film’s distributor, Summit Entertainment, maintains the film is a fictional account.

Today, MSNBC had an interview with an Iraq military veteran who disagreed with Time magazine’s assertion that “The Hurt Locker is “a near perfect war film.” The veteran said the script is filled with cliches about military life and said he took offense at the way the film depicts infantry soldiers as incompetents who must be bailed out by the elite bomb unit.